Now I Can Be Legally Yours

Delightassame-sex couples finally get chance to 'marry'

SAME-SEX "weddings" will be celebrated all over the UK this December as the Civil Partnerships Act comes into effect.

This month, Middlesbrough Register Office is holding an open day for people to discover more about planning their big day. MICHELLE HEDGER meets a Stockton couple who are tying the knot on the day it becomes legal.

IT'S going to be the perfect Christmas wedding...

The limo is booked, the cake designed, 250 invites have been sent out and the excited couple are praying for that extra special finishing touch - snow on their big day.

But instead of a bride walking down the aisle on December 21, Stuart Bain and Lee Crawford from Stockton will make that life-changing, nerve-wracking journey hand-in-hand together.

It will be the first time a same-sex couple can legally "wed" in the UK as the new Civil Partnerships Act comes into effect.

The marriage-style partnership entitles gay and lesbian couples to many of the legal rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

Government legislation means that the couples can register their intent to enter a civil partnership on December 5, giving 15 days' notice, so the first ceremonies will be conducted on December 21.

"We have been waiting for this for years," says 24-year-old Stuart, a child support agency case worker.

"It's very exciting to be holding our wedding on the very first day the ceremonies can be performed. We both love Christmas and I feel like we will be part of history."

Stuart and his 25-year-old boyfriend Lee, who works for the NHS, live together and have been a couple for five years.

They told their families they were gay about a year after they met and say everyone has been very positive about their relationship and wedding plans.

"We'd been talking about it for ages," says Stuart. "We live together and have a lot of joint financial commitments. First of all we started thinking about what the situation would be if something happened to one of us. We wanted to make sure the other would be looked after and secure, and that our estates would pass to each other.

"Then as the possibility of the civil partnerships became a reality we started to look at it much more romantically. We are getting more and more excited and see it as a big celebration of our relationship."

It's certainly a big romantic, family affair. A red limo has been hired, Lee, Stuart and Stuart's two-year-old nephew Ciaran will be kitted out in matching cream suits with red cravats and waistcoats - in fact there's just the flowers and photographer left to book. …

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